Robotic science fiction books of 2021

Scifi robotic books of 2021

2021 produced 4 new scifi books with good laborious science underpinning their description of robots and three the place there was much less science however plenty of fascinating concepts about robots. Not solely are these books gratifying on their very own, fiction can function teachable moments in robots and STEM and encourage a robot-obsessed teen to learn extra and enhance their studying comprehension.

• Termination Shock
• Machinehood
• Silly Machine
• Day Zero
• Fugitive Telemetry
• Fan Fiction
• A Psalm for the Wild-Constructed

Let’s begin with the scifi ebook I most continuously really useful to pals to learn in 2021: Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. It isn’t a robotic ebook per se however robots and automation are realistically interspersed by means of it- and the ebook is one in every of Stephenson’s finest, pulling collectively LOTS of expertise, subplots, and themes just like what he did in Diamond Age. One of many expertise threads is how drones are ubiquitous all through the ebook, with small drones getting used singly or in swarms for surveillance and social media and larger drones used for supply, human transport, and, effectively, mayhem. Nominally the ebook is about local weather change and the way a bunch of people led by a wealthy Texan plan to chop by means of the COP26 conferences blather and get on with geoengineering the setting. Besides cash and geoengineering is the straightforward half… It’s a dramedy of a ebook and manages to by no means lecture or push political agendas, as a substitute it’s laborious science wrapped with memorable characters, a compelling plot, and a humorousness, with an “oh my!” twist on the finish.

A good way to consider how drones have gotten subtly built-in as instruments into army, safety, and journalism. And that on the finish of the day, regardless of the massive funding in anti-drone expertise, a shotgun with hen shot could also be our greatest protection for small drones. Take a look at the RTSF matters web page for extra hyperlinks to the science.

In contrast to Termination Shock, robots and AI *are* the topic of S.B. Divya’s Machinehood. It’s a thorny ebook with a piercingly sharp commentary on the gig financial system, local weather change, automation, and ethics. A rogue neo-Buddhist decides that clever machines deserve authorized rights and protections, just like animals, which she calls the Machinehood Manifesto. Then she leads a terrorist cell to pressure governments to include machinehood protections into their authorized framework. A SpecialOps operator is tasked to take her down, which she does with the assistance of her sister-in-law. Numerous motion, plenty of concepts, plenty of realism and stuffed with thought scary jabs. The ebook echoes real-world arguments for the reason that 1980’s about treating robots as animals from a authorized perspective.

It’s a great, very helpful introduction to points in robotic ethics and autonomy and the very actual idea of treating robots like animals- which is roofed within the non-fiction ebook The New Breed by Kate Darling. You possibly can learn extra about that in my current Science Robotics article.

Silly Machine by Mark Niemann-Ross is a comedy with an fascinating and well timed plot about autonomous automobiles, cyber hackers, and social justice warriors in Portland. It might be tempting to hack an autonomous automotive to drive an annoying semi-full time, I-protest-everything activist off a bridge, wouldn’t it? Plus there’s a good Ubik-like good home subplot. Not as well-written, plotted, and memorable as Termination Shock and Machinehood, however a fast, simple learn.

The concept autonomous automobiles will probably be each ubiquitous and hackable makes it a pleasant teachable second about cybersecurity. A current scifi ebook that explains extra in regards to the workings of autonomous driving is David Walton’s There Legal guidelines Deadly. You possibly can learn my Science Robotics article on autonomous automobiles in scifi right here.

Like Machinehood, Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill is ready a close to future. It’s the prequel to Sea of Rust, one in every of my all time favourite robotic scifi books. Sea of Rust is an evocative story about what occurs after the robotic revolution and the way the robots themselves descend right into a type of Mad Max hell. Day Zero isn’t as putting as Sea of Rust, however very gratifying as a prequel. For those who cherished Spielberg’s AI: Synthetic Intelligence, you then’ll doubly love Day Zero as a result of it’s instructed from the POV of Pounce, the Teddy-like robotic, who protects his boy Ezra through the robotic revolution. You don’t need to learn Sea of Rust first, Day Zero is a stand alone, however I like to recommend you do. I hope there are extra books within the Sea of Rust sequence.!

When it comes to robotics, Day Zero is an effective introduction to nursebots, healthcare robots, and home help robots. You possibly can study extra in regards to the science of nannybots on the Science Robotics article and home robotics, typically known as domotics at Science Robotics right here.

In fact, there was a whole lot of different robotic science fiction in 2021, simply with much less science. Listed here are three books so that you can take into account which have some robots in with actual world science.

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells is one in every of my prime “you’ve bought to learn!” The most recent addition, Fugitive Telemetry, continues the pleasant Bildungsroman of the galaxy’s snarkiest robotic. ROFL as all the time, it maintains the same old intelligent plotting and motion that makes the Murderbot Diaries a favourite of each the Hugos and Nebulas awards. And Murderbot, just like the people in Termination Shock, has a swarm of drones and is aware of learn how to use them. Oh, SecUnit, I like you!

And I like the sequence as manner of illustrating real-world issues in software program engineering and cybersecurity for robotics. Take a look at the discussions of software program engineering within the first ebook and the Web of Issues within the fourth.

It’s laborious to not like Lieutenant Commander Information on Star Trek and Picard, proper? Properly, it’s laborious to not like Brent Spiner, the good Jewish boy from Houston who grew as much as write a humorous, self-mocking semi-fictional autobiography in addition to star in successful TV sequence. He calls his ebook, Fan Fiction, a “mem-noir” the place an actor, conveniently named Brent Spiner, on the third season of a modest hit conveniently known as “ST:TNG” is being stalked by a somebody presupposed to be Lal, Information’s short-lived robotic daughter. The hapless actor finds it’s as if he’s residing in a Raymond Chandler novel. Brent displays on his life and the way he bought thus far in his profession as he tries to go about taking pictures episodes, going to events on the Roddenberrys, signing autographs at cons, and hanging out with Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, and Jonathan Frakes. But Spiner comes throughout as a daily man, grounded and grateful- and amused- at “making it” in Hollywood. It makes me lengthy for a observe up- what was life for that actor after the years of grueling 16 hour days on set and the rising fame?

OK, there’s not a lot there when it comes to teachable moments about robots, however it’s nonetheless enjoyable.

A Psalm for the Wild-Constructed by Becky Chambers, the reigning consolation lit scifi author (and that’s a very good factor!), is a sentimental Photo voltaic-punk ebook. The ebook doesn’t have a whole lot of motion however could possibly be excellent for center schoolers (although some f-bombs are dropped) or a read-aloud to youthful youngsters. Or one thing to only to get pleasure from as a substitute of listening to Lake Woebegone tales or re-reading Cadfael books. The premise is that in a future world, robots spontaneously gained sentience after which left human occupied terrorizes to discover being a robotic. Now they’re again, self-actualized, and able to discover humanity by asking “what do people want?”

Doesn’t sound like there’s a lot about actual robots, does it? And but, it has one of the vital cogent explanations of company, of what makes one thing greater than a machine, which is a elementary idea in synthetic intelligence and in how autonomy is totally different than automation.

Hopefully this record of books provides you one thing to learn and, extra importantly, one thing to consider in 2022!